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British Prime Minister may announce another Finucane inquiry

Slain lawyer case one of the great unsolved of The Troubles

By
NIALL O'DOWD,
IrishCentral.com Founder
Published Tuesday, May 17, 2011, 7:13 AM
Updated Tuesday, May 17, 2011, 10:16 AM

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British Prime Minister David Cameron
British Prime Minister David Cameron
Photo by Google Images


British Prime Minister David Cameron may offer a new investigation into the Patrick Finucane murder when he is in Ireland on Wednesday this week.

Cameron will visit Ireland for a day accompanying Queen Elizabeth on her historic trip.
The slaying of the Belfast attorney in 1989 is still one of the most controversial killings of the entire Northern Troubles.

Finucane was shot dead in front of his family by Loyalist paramilitaries in 1989, but security forces have repeatedly been implicated in the killing of the lawyer, who had publicly represented many Republican suspects.

Before Finucane was killed he was named in the House of Commons by a senior British government figure as someone who was defending IRA killers. Many believe the decision to kill him went to the very highest levels of the British government.

When a senator, President Obama called for a fully independent inquiry into the Finucane case.The Irish American Unity Conference and the Irish National Caucus secured a statement to that effect from him.

In response to a questionnaire submitted by the two groups on establishing a truth process for Northern Ireland, Obama's team said, "Senator Obama would support a reconciliation process that seeks the comprehensive truth about past violence. Senator Obama believes there should be an independent, public inquiry as Judge Cory recommended."

Judge Peter Cory, a Canadian judge  who oversaw an inquiry stated that there was clear collusion and cover-up but due to lackof cooperation he could never prove it.

In a statement at the time Michael Finucane, the murdered solicitor's son, said, "We are extremely grateful to Senator Obama for lending us his support. As Senator Obama points out, this inquiry was a recommendation of Judge Cory as a way to look at all the very serious circumstances arising out of the death of Pat Finucane. And it is a recommendation that has not been implemented by the British government."

Any decision by Cameron will be greeted with suspicion by nationalists however, as previous inquiries have never fully investigated the case.

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READ MORE: 

Read more stories about Patrick Finucane

Irish Bomb victims ask for Queen’s help

A warm welcome to David Cameron from Irish Americans

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3 Comments

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DaithiSuibhne | May 18, 2011, 11:05 AM EDT
Please! barneyjo- George D -DanO, Your silence on the subject is deafening.

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DaithiSuibhne | May 17, 2011, 09:52 PM EDT
The key word in this article is 'May'.As we all know from past experience the Brit's just love to throw out a tidbit of hope to the masses, it takes the heat off them for a while. As with all their 'Official Inquiries' it's like pulling dragons teeth to get anything done. It's only been @ 22 years since Pat's killing so I'm thinking they still have a decade or so before they really need to get any information out to the 'Public'.( Wasn't it only @ 39 years since 'Bloody Sunday' 1972 occurred when we finally got any info from them.)Fact is they won't let known the full truth about collusion or from whence the order came from to eliminate 'The Fenian Bastard'. If you expect anything but half-truths to come out of any 'Inquiry' then you just don't know who your dealing with. Next up we "may' get an 'Official Inquiry' into the killing of Rosemary Nelson, just to settle our stomachs.

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peterkissel | May 17, 2011, 11:37 AM EDT
As noted in Niall's article, the Irish American Unity Conference obtained Senator Obama's written commitment to support an independent, public inquiry into the Finucane murder as recommended by Judge Cory. However, the IAUC wishes to clarify that it partnered with the Ancient Order of Hibernians (rather than Irish National Caucus)on this effort. AOH's contributions were instrumental in developing the questionaire submitted jointly by the two organizations to then-Presidential candidate Obama. Peter Kissel, IAUC National Board member

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